Monday, 10 April 2017

Simon and Garfunkel: Non-Album Recordings 1964-2012

Non-Album Recordings Part #1:
1966

The pretty [**] 'Blues Run The Game' by Jackson C Frank is a
rare example of Simon and Garfunkel covering contemporary folk ('Anji' being
the obvious exception). While no five-star classic, you wonder why it wasn't
used to flesh out one of the shortest running albums of the 1960s as it's
certainly up to standard, this song's gloomy tones well matched with a sombre
sounding Simon while Garfunkel provides flecks of colour. The narrator sounds
on a par with the troubled fugitive of 'Wednesday Morning 3AM' and 'Somewhere
They Can't Find Me', fleeing the law on a boat to 'England, baby, maybe to
Spain'. But the further he flies the worse his trouble gets - 'wherever I been
and gone the blues are all the same'. A lovely harmony vocal from the pair of
singers (both singing deeper than normal for much of the song) and a 'Homeward
Bound' style guitar flourish help propel the recording above the average. Find it on: the CD re-issue of 'The Sounds Of Silence'
(1966)

Non-Album Recordings Part #2: 1967

Eager
to be seen as a 'true' songwriter, Paul spent much of his early career plugging
songs for other people. [ ] 'Red Rubber Ball' was one of
the few accepted, by a little known band named 'The Cyrcle' (this was their
only hit and did respectably but not as well as most Simon and Garfunkel
releases, peaking at an impressive #2 - the 890,000 copies Arty mentions in his
introduction sounds like a lot of copies to sell to the crowd, but S+G were
selling millions by the time of 'Mrs Robinson'). Too proud of the song to
simply throw it away largely unheard but not pleased with it enough to stick it
on an album, Simon and Garfunkel did the next best thing and sang it often in
concert throughout the 1960s, a nice little 'bonus' for fans who went to one of
their concerts. Luckily many of these concerts were taped and one from 1967 of
the duo performing this song included on the 'Old Friends' box set. It suits
their harmony very well, a bruised Paul Simon lyric looking on the bad side of
a couple breaking up like a first draft for the forthcoming 'Overs' ('There's a
lesson to be learned from this and I learnt it very well'), with Paul referring
to his girl not as a 'star' but a 'starfish', not the person he thought she was
and she referring to him as an 'ornament'. A more hopeful chorus where none of
the past matters because 'the sun is shining like a red rubber ball' kicks in
and makes this a catchy pop song, with the twist at the end that the narrator
is actually enjoying the prospect of living life alone. The result is a fun but
very much a minor song, nice to hear but not necessarily essential to your
Simon and Garfunkel collection.Find it on: 'Old
Friends' (1998)

Non-Album Recordings Part #3: 1968

A
rare example of a completely non-album Simon and Garfunkel B-side, [ ] 'You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies' is a slight but
successful attempt at trying something different. At one with the more
aggressive sound of S+G tracks across 1968 like 'Fakin' It' and 'A Hazy Shade
Of Winter', this is a another example of how things probably weren't alright at
home (Kathy, adamant about keeping out of the spotlight, wants Paul at home -
but he's into his music too deep and been after it for too long to stop now).
'You may think you're above me, yeah - but what you think isn't always true!' a
'womanly wise' and rather grumpy Simon and Garfunkel bark. A lovely softer
middle eight tries to take a sting out of the tail ('Indications indicate'... a
very Paul Simon line) but soon gives up trying to hold out an olive branch with
the snarling line 'obviously you're going to blow it - but you don't know it!'
A lovely cascading vocal part, where first Paul on his own and then Simon and
Garfunkel together sing the title phrase like a 'round', chasing each other's
tale, makes for a memorable finale to a rather forgettable song, not quite up
to 'Bookends' standard but a welcome addition to most CD re-issues of that
album. Find it on: The CD re-issue of 'Bookends'
(1968)

Having
enjoyed recording 'Silent Night' for 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme' and
with their release rate slowing down, one thing Simon and Garfunkel toyed with
was a single, perhaps an EP or even an album of Christmas songs. They got as
far as two songs before abandoning the idea. While the move would have been a
step backwards and neither of the songs matches up to the sheer power of
'Silent Night' with a radio broadcast, both recordings are rather good. A note
perfect a capella [**] 'Comfort
and Joy' with a burst of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' for good measure is
deliciously arranged, with Simon and Garfunkel singing as one, then in
counterpart and then double-tracked with Paul singing the main part and Arty
joining in on key words that 'make up' their own logical little song ('To save
us all when we're astray!') The result is truly lovely and deserved a release
long before the 1990s, , proof of what fine natural singers Simon and Garfunkel
always were. Find it on: 'Old Friends' (Box Set)
(1998)

The
other Christmas hymn was a far more traditional reading of [ ] 'The Star Carol'. A 'Homeward Bound' style acoustic backing is a
nice fit for a lovely two-part harmony version of the German 19th century
carol. Listen out for Garfunkel starting off deeper than normal, out-bassing
even Paul's part before soaring off to the heavens by the end of each verse.
You'd never claim this as Simon and Garfunkel's greatest moments, but a full
album of carols like this would have been lovely. Once again the song wasn't
released until as late as 1998, which seems a waste of a good Christmas single. Find it on: 'Old Friends' (Box Set) (1998)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #4: 1969

Paul Simon always records lots of demos
of his songs as work in progress while he's making a record - one day perhaps
there'll be a 'Paul Simon Songbook' style alternate acoustic version of every
album he's ever made. Some of his solo demos are beginning to appear on CDs now
as intriguing bonus tracks, early sketchy alternate glimpses into songs like
'Me and Julio Down By The Schoolyard' and 'Slip Slidin' Away' without all the
extra. By far his most interesting - and different- demo released so far
however is for [ ] 'Bridge Over Troubled Water'.
Paul only has two verses and is clearly coming at the song from a very
different direction to what Arty will persuade him to create later: this
'Bridge' is a humble simple track on guitar whose gospel overtones suit the
song's promise to 'ease your mind'. Paul sings in a really lovely falsetto,
something Arty was so impressed with he tried without success to get Paul to
keep the song for himself. Though the song lacks the emotional power and
especially the feeling of transcendence that comes with those final crashing
chords, it already sounds like a very lovely song. Find
it on: 'Paul Simon 1964-1993' (1993)

Simon also finally gave the 'OK' to the
release of the traditional song Art Garfunkel wanted to release on 'Bridge' one
of two songs which caused much of the heavy arguing (though Arty hasn't yet
given the OK to 'Cuba Si, Nixon No' except in live form). [ ] 'Feuilles-Oh' would certainly have slowed the 'Bridge' album down
and feels like a step backwards, a return to the Benedictus-style folk
standards every other folk duo/band was doing at this time (if, perhaps, not
quite as well). A Haitian folk song, for a change and written in French, its an
odder song in translation than the peaceful one it sounds on record, the tale
of a woman pleading with a voodoo healer to take a curse off her and her
family. Depending on its dating compared with 'El Condor Pasa' (and ignoring
the Latin 'Benedictus' for the moment) it's significant as the first bit of
'world music' Paul Simon ever recorded - even if it was at Art Garfunkel's
request. Simon and Garfunkel sing beautifully, but this track would probably
still have been the one on 'Bridge' every fan would have skipped had it been
released as Arty intended. He'll return to the song though for his first solo
album 'Angel Clare', substituting this song's peaceful serenity for a much
spookier vibe (more in keeping with the words) which segues into the mournful
'Do Spacemen Pass Dead Souls On Their Way To The Moon?' (where 'yes' would seem
to be the answer...) Find it on: the single disc -
though oddly enough not the deluxe triple disc - version of the CD re-issue
'Bridge Over Troubled Water' (1970)

In live tapes of this period Simon and
Garfunkel can also be heard adding a new song to their repertoire: the rather
earnest Gene Autry song [ ] 'That Silver Haired Daddy Of Mine',
a song the suo probably learnt from their beloved Everly Brothers and their
aptly titled 1958 LP 'Songs Our Daddy Taught Us'. Harmonically speaking it's a
good fit for the pair's voices, with Paul singing in more of a falsetto than
normal alongside Garfunkel's co-lead, but lyrically it's less so. Simon and
Garfunkel, more than most, have been singing about the 'generation gap',
speaking out for adolescents who can't communicate with their parents at all
(see 'The Graduate' film in particular). This gee-I-didn't-really-mean-it-dad
song sounded slightly choking in the throats of the Everlys in the 1950s to be
honest and sounds even more so with S and G in 1969. In even more of a
statement that the pair had lost all their counter-culture roots, it's best
known in the modern day from appearing on a live album released through a
coffee chain. Find it on: 'Old Friends' (1998) and
'Live 1969' (2008)

Always the Buster Keaton's of comedy,
Simon and Garfunkel don't miss a beat even when revisiting two of the silliest
songs from their childhood. Arty announces that the duo are thinking of putting
a best-of out and jokingly adds that it will be titled after their original hit
'Hey Schoolgirl and 12 others'. A fun version of their first song's first verse
is suitably nostalgic, though sadly it runs out after only a second round of
woo-bop-a-loo-chi-bahs before Paul calls, off mike, for the pair to sing The
Sparkeltones' #11 hit ode to trousers [
] 'Black Slacks'.
As in 'Blllllllllllllllllack Slacks'. Simon and Garfunkel are having great fun
'playing it cool daddy-o' but the short medley is over far too soon. Find it on: 'Old Friends' (1998)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #5: 1970

Simon and Garfunkel got back together
one last time for an ultimately aborted start at a sixth album - a record that
never got any further than three fairly average folk songs (which for some
reason all appear not on the CD re-issue of 'Bridge', where they would make most
sense chronologically, but 'Sounds Of Silence', which I guess they fit
thematically a little better). These 'root' songs sound like warm-ups as S and
G work their weary way up to working with each other again, made as a 'test'
rather than as a serious attempt at music making. Student Art Garfunkel had a
particular love of 'old' things unusual for the 1960s. Old houses, antiques,
old songs - much as he shared his partner's love of doo-wop and rock and roll
he had an additional passion for reviving old folk tunes. 'Barbara Allen' was one of
his favourites and would most likely have been his idea to sing along with
Paul. However the song soon got replaced, probably by the next batch of Paul
Simon originals - in truth it's no great loss as it's all slightly dull by
Simon and Garfunkel standards: straight two-part harmonies, simple guitar
accompaniment and no real variation between verses (and this Scottish ballad
about scorned and then regretted love has an awful lot of verses!) Probably
right to be given the push, then, but a nice find in the vaults for the CD age.
Arty re-recorded this song with a bigger production for his first solo album
'Angel Clare' in 1973, suggesting he hadn't forgotten this pretty song, even if
everyone else had. Find it on: the CD re-issue of
'The Sounds Of Silence' (1966)

Simon and Garfunkel also attempted a
second, more obscure Scottish folk song. Paul sings a good half of [ ] 'Rose Of Aberdeen' solo, giving us an extra insight into what his
solo shows in England would have been like in the 'Songbook' period. Paul's
voice is particularly golden and the track sounds like it could have been an S
and G song once Arty adds his supportive if faltering harmony partway through.
The song is better known under the title 'Roving Gambler', the song's first
line, and is a Wild West cowboy song of unknown vintage ('officially' it wasn't
written down until the early 20th century although it's surely much older than
that). Though the song features cowboys and gamblers, this song would still
have sounded at home amongst similar sad tales on the duo's second album like
'Richard Cory' and 'A Most Peculiar Man'.Find it
on: the CD re-issue of 'The Sounds Of Silence' (1966)

The compilers probably went with that
song's alternate name to differentiate it from final 1970 song [ ] 'Roving Gambler', a much more S and G type song with a 'Bookends'
side two style bounce. Paul gets the giggles as he tries to hang onto a note
longer than Arty and the pair tell the 'Alias Smith and Jones' type story of
handsome young rogues making money by gambling and falling for every pretty
lady in town. this song would have suited 'Wednesday Morning 3AM' and it's
tales of vagabonds well. This makes a rather odd end to the studio S and G
canon (at least until the even odder ends 'The Breakup' in 1972 and 'Citizen Of
The Planet' in 1983) but it's great to hear those lovely harmonies together one
last time. Find it on: the CD re-issue of 'The
Sounds Of Silence' (1966)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #6: 1972

Back
in 1972 Simon and Garfunkel were back together, briefly, to record an advert
for their upcoming and decidedly separate solo tours. Paul is in the control
box, Arty is speaking and neither quite know what to say. Along the way Paul
comes on the monitor to tell his ex-partner to sound 'graver', adds his
two-pennies worth that 'I like that bit about the separate commitment' and ends
by asking Arty is he could squeeze in a mention of the tour he's doing that
fall. It's a typically generous but knowing comedy moment between the two who
are enjoying trying to out-deadpan each other and laugh at the ridiculousness
of their situation as former friends announcing their separate paths two years
after the event, while throwing a few digs in too. A shame Art got the giggles
- I was looking forward to where this improvisation might have gone next! Here's
the full text:

AG: This
is Art Garfunkel, formerly of Simon and Garfunkel.
I'm here in the studio to talk about something
that's veryimportant to
me. You know, a lot of people feel that when
an important recording group, such as…
PS: Art?
AG: Yeah.
PS: Let me interrupt you a minute. It's not
quite serious
sounding enough. Try to make it a little bit
more, uhh, grave.
AG: Okay. This is Arthur Garfunkel, once of
Simon and Garfunkel.
One of the things that's disturbed me through
the years has
been people's reaction to The Breakup of Simon
and Garfunkel.
PS: Artie? Try and play a little bit more
on…emphasize the word
"disturbed."
AG: One of the things that has disturbed me
through the years
has been people's reaction to The Breakup of
Simon and Garfunkel.
You know, a lot of people have taken it as a
comic event and have
not realized that only with deep, real feelings
of separate
commitment can such…
PS: I like that. I like that part about the
"separate commitment."
AG: …can such a breakup actually take place.
Only by two,
separate individuals pursuing their own
individual paths and
following, what to they is, the God of their
own choice can two
people who were once so close end up…
PS: Art? Art, try and work it in that I'll be
doing a major college tour
this fall.
AG: …who were once so close, follow two paths
which are so divergent.
Whereby, I, for example, record material that I
feel expresses my soul, and
you, Paul, who are doing a major college tour this
fall…(laughs)

[
] 'Let Me Live In Your
City' is a first draft for the song that will become 'Something So
Right' - or half of it at least. The opening is the same and most of the first
verse about the 'cool water when a fever runs high', but Paul's love song to
first wife Peggy goes into quite a different chorus. Though featuring roughly
the same tune Paul pleads with his new wife to show him her world, 'allowing'
the narrator to live in her city 'with the river so pretty and the air so
fine'. Paul comments that he's a 'traveller eating up my travelling time' as he
yearns to put down roots and leave his nomadic life behind. The song then
returns back to the familiar path via 'The Great Wall Of China' verse (though
the 'foreigners' 'built it' rather than 'made it' strong) and even has the
'some people never say...' middle eight intact. You can see why Paul changed
this as his future self-deprecating chorus is much better written and much more
in keeping with the rest of the song, but it's fascinating to hear such a great
track before it was something quite so right. Other period demos are less
different than this and just sound a little sparser: 'Duncan' from 'Paul Simon'
sounds particularly good as does the funkier 'Loves Me Like A Rock' heard on
this album's CD. Find it on: the CD re-issue of
'There Goes Rhymin' Simon' (1973)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #8: 1974

Not strictly a Paul Simon song at all
but a guest spot for guest artists The Jesse Dixon Singers on the Live Rhymin'
record with no Paul participation. [ ] 'Jesus Is The Answer' is a
well meaning but ultimately rather derivative and dull gospel number complete
with screechy singers and preachy church organ. Originally a hit for The
Archers in 1973 (a year before release here), the audience seem to go bananas
for some odd reason (how comes this gets stronger applause than 'American Tune'
or 'The Boxer' for goodness sake?) If Jesus is the answer then hearing this
song I'd hate to hear the question.Find it on:
'Live Rhymin' (1974)

Meanwhile, over in a recording studio,
Art Garfunkel is filling time between the 'Angel Clare' and 'Breakaway'
sessions with his fourth single, a standalone cover of a Tim Moore track.
[ ] 'Second Avenue' always gets short shrift from
compilations sadly despite being a top 40 US hit (which is more than
predecessor 'Travellin' Boy' managed and that's always on compilations) and to
date has never appeared on CD in its original version (just an edit that cuts a
verse out). Arty soars like a bird on this sad and sorrowful song about
splitting up, with a house that was formerly full of fun now a 'hole in the
wall' and full of ghosts and memories. Arty is clearly thinking of his short
lived first marriage here to Linda Grossman and sings this song impressively
low-key without the over-singing of later years on similar Jimmy Webb piano
ballads. Only a slightly ordinary tune lets the song down, which is too good to
have been so forgotten if not exactly a lost classic either. The previously
released 'Woyaya' was the B-side, if you were wondering, the seventh song from
the ten track 'Angel Clare' released on a single! Find
it on: Garfunkel' (1988)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #9: 1977

Paul was suffering a little from
writer's block again during the late 1970s, unable to get going properly post
'Still Crazy After All These Years' until being inspired by the screenplay that
became 'One Trick Pony'. Instead he rather shamefacedly gave Columbia a
'farewell gesture' to end his contract with them: a standalone single and a
tie-in compilation. Most songwriters would have offered any old rubbish to get
out of their contract (actually Paul arguably did on the B-side...) but in
actual fact the A side [ ] 'Slip Slidin' Away' was one
of his best. Acknowledging his recent state of depression following his divorce
from wife Peggy, Paul wrote one of his most moving and emotional lyrics about
the ups and downs of life which had seemed so certain just a couple of albums
ago on 'Rhymin' Simon'. Those who've struggled with problems in their lives
will surely identify with Paul's verse about how 'a good day ain't got no rain,
while a bad day is when I lie in bed and think about things that might have
been'; even more difficult to sing is the third verse in which Paul's narrator
travels miles to see his only child for a few precious hours, with lots of
thoughts of what to say running through his head - until he sees the boy at
peace and asleep so he sadly 'turns round and headed home again'. This last
part in particular must surely have been autobiographical to a degree (Paul's
son Harper turned five when this single was released and there's oh so much
more of this stuff in the 'One Trick Pony' film to come) but Paul sings the
song as if he's taking bits of wisdom from others, as if unwilling to face up
that after years of writing about other people's loneliness, alienation and
isolation Paul is suffering from a touch of 'The Sound Of Silence' himself (he
certainly sounds in shock for most of the song). In keeping with the finale on
'Still Crazy', 'Silent Eyes', Paul also returns to religion as a theme - and a
theme treated more reverentially than in the S and G years. God makes his
plans, Paul sighs, thanks to 'information unavailable to the mortal man' while
those he uses as puppets can only smile, work at their jobs, collect their pay
and wonder why the life they wanted to life keeps slip slidin' ever further
away. One of Paul's loveliest under-rated songs, it was perhaps too melancholy
to be a mega-hit but it's chart peak of #5 as the long-delayed follow-up to '50
Ways To Leave Your Lover' was still pretty impressive (have there ever been two
singles more different than this pair?!)Find it on:
most Paul Simon compilations starting with 'Negotiations and Love Songs' (1978)

The B-side [ ] 'Stranded In A Limousine' was a lot more ordinary alas. It's a
song that had it been released nowadays would have come with the twitter
hashtag '1stWorldProblems', a millionaire whose left on the wrong side of town
when his posh car lets him down. The street gang of kids rush out to see what's
going on, competing with each other to see who can be the most 'helpful' and
thus get a reward, but the miserly millionaire has already left rather than
hand out any money. This morality tale is told with a slight wink and features
some comedy moments that suggest to me Paul was working on making it another
'50 Ways' before he got bored with it (he makes a mean siren noise though, with
a chorus of 'wah wah wah wah wah!') There's a nice bluesy performance on this
one, with horns and piano and a big fat walking bass line competing with each
other for space and performance-wise this sounds like a first rehearsal for the
forthcoming 'Late In The Evening'. That song however is much more memorable and
joyous - this song is rather unforgettable and tuneless by Paul's high
standards. Find it on: some Paul Simon compilations
starting with 'Negotiations and Love Songs' (1978)

Wisely left off 'Watermark' at the last
minute (except for Dutch and Yugoslavian copies for some odd reason), Art
Garfunkel's [ ] 'Fingerpaints' got the boot when 'What A
Wonderful World' was taped at the last minute and has been a hard song to get
hold of since. Not that it's really worth it: this tortured Jimmy Webb ballad
is much like the other Webb ballads on Arty's third album, only not even that
good. It's a track about unleashing your inner child with someone you feel
comfortable with, though for a song that's meant to be about self-expression
and freedom it isn't half a slow monochromatic plod. The lyrics are pretty
dodgy too: 'Fingerpaint me, I'll fingerpaint you, remember children and the
things they like to do...' Messy, in all meanings of the word. Find it on: some copies of 'Watermark'.(1977)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #10: 1980

Paul's 'One Trick Pony' talks a lot
about his character Jonah's one-hit that first brought him fame and now acts
like a millstone around his neck, leaving an idea of him as a writer in so many
people's minds he's not allowed to write anything else. Many critics wondered
if Paul was talking about 'The Sound Of Silence' here, though given the years
of non-hits in his youth I reckon Paul had 'Hey Schoolgirl' more in mind and
his increasingly desperate attempts to do similar songs long past the point
when they were 'real'. That said [ ] 'Soft Parachutes' sounds more
like something from 'The Graduate' film soundtrack, the tale of a hippie who
'used to have me a girlfriend' before being drafted into Vietnam and realising
how fragile his old world is ('Don't ask me the reason, God only know why'). At
the time when the film came out Vietnam was 'old' news (finally coming to a
stuttering end in 1975) and this folk-picking style is deliberately
anachronistic (Paul as Jonah plays it at a TV awards ceremony celebrating yesteryear
and he's blown off stage by punk band The B-52s long before anyone else knew
who they were). The trouble is, though, Paul's too good a writer to be 'bad'
and even this song which the audience is meant to hate as much as Jonah does (which is why it wasn't on the original
album) has a real directness, poetry and charm. Had this song been released as
the sequel to 'The Sound Of Silence' it surely would have been a hit too - and
Paul feels like he knows it, spending the next fifteen years refusing to write
this sort of a protest song until the moment it couldn't be less in keeping
with the mood of the nation. Find it on: the CD
re-issue of 'One Trick Pony' (1980)

[
] 'All Because Of You'
is another 'Pony' outtake, a first draft of 'Oh Marion' that sounds as if the
vocal was added to the same backing track used on the LP and in the film (and,
therefore, an early example of the 'Rhythm Of The Daints' method of working
where Paul writes the melody and records a backing track long before signing
off on the words). If ever a Paul Simon lyric was filler and if ever a vocal
was a guide one this sounds like it, as Paul wanders all round the track on a
far more generic late 1970s rock song than the final rather poignant version.
The 'feel' of the song is similar though, suggesting Paul already knew where it
would appear in the film: 'It's all because you would not say 'we're through!'
is the first version of 'Oh Marion I think we're in trouble here - I should
have believed it when I heard you singing'. Rather a relief that Paul changed
it, then, but a fascinating fragment to hear all these years on. It seems the
only time songwriting is an easy game is when another person is reviewing. Find it on: the CD re-issue of 'One Trick Pony' (1980)

Similarly [ ] 'Spiral Highway' is an early version of 'How The Heart Approaches
What It yearns' with the same run-down motel setting and an equally depressing
but very different lyric. The song even opens with a tease from the future
title song 'Hearts and Bones' before getting more into familiar territory (this
time this is clearly a different backing track, though it's not a million miles
away from the finished version, albeit with a wretched saxophone solo instead
of the 'I'm on fire...' verse). Paul is less concerned here with the depressive
place he's just checked into and his thoughts for the ever-decreasing distance
between himself and his family than the long and winding road he's taken to get
here as a musician - and how many more nights like this there will be until
he's earned enough money to go home. Again, hardly up to the sophistication of
the finished product and yet fascinating all the same.Find
it on: the CD re-issue of 'One Trick Pony' (1980)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #11: 1981/82

There weren't too many surprises at Simon
and Garfunkel's Central park reunion as the duo mainly focussed on what they
wanted to hear. However the chance to sing a second beloved Every Brothers
record as a sort of 'hello' sequel to their almost-finale 'Bye Bye Love' on
Bridge' eleven years before proved irresistible. For my tastes [ ] 'Wake Up Little Susie' is a
far better song, catchier and quirkier and very much in the vein of early Jerry
Landis teen comedy songs as the narrator and Susie both fall asleep in the
cinema (late night homework sessions?) and break curfew, worrying that they're
going to be teased mercilessly about it all when they get back home. Simon and
Garfunkel don't often sound genuinely happy at the Central Park show (they
certainly weren't happy at rehearsals according to eye-witness reports!) but
they're having fun here at least on a song that suits their combined vocal
strength.Find it on: 'The Concert In Central Park'
(1982)

They also cover Chuck Berry's [ ] 'Maybelline', segueing from the sudden double time kick of 'Kodochrome'
which features many of the same chords. It's fitting that a song about how the
camera effectively 'lies', recording the past as a prettier place in memory
than it ever was in reality, should end up in a song that's not one of Chuck's
best and one of his few hit singles that sound forced and recycled rather than
inspired. Simon and Garfunkel still sound good though, singing this track with
considerably more gusto than Paul's own song. Maybe this reunion gig should
have been a whole night of 1950s rock and roll songs?Find
it on: 'The Concert In Central Park' (1982)

Arty's 'Scissors Cut' album was released
at the start of the year and was a relative return to form - a gritty,
emotionally resonant album about his feeling of loss for his girlfriend Laurie
Bird the year before. One of the most affecting songs of the sessions was the
moving Stephen Bishop song [ ] 'One Less Holiday', a typical
Garfunkel piano ballad except that this one doesn't feel like an acting job at
all but is instead terribly, almost overwhelmingly real. Arty's been watching
other people leading their ordinary lives, which seems so odd because his life
will never be the same again now he's on his own. Arty's narrator takes to
drink to blot out the pain 'while trying not to think' as he's joined on his
crusade by a sad strings part trying to offer him a shoulder to lean on. He
sounds as if he needs it. This song really should have made the album, despite
being at 1:47 ridiculously short and with an especially abrupt ending. Arty,
though, sounds as fabulous as he ever does, at the peak of his powers as he
channels his own grief into a song that others in his position can identify
with. Special - and far too good to be thrown away on a compilation years after
the event. Find it on: 'Art Garfunkel - Up Till Now'
(1993)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #12: 1983

One song, possibly the only song
finished by Simon and Garfunkel together for the record they intended calling
'Think Too Much' but which became Paul's solo 'Hearts and Bones' in 1983is the
sweet but rather sickly [**] 'Citizen Of The Planet'. It's
the 'hippiest' song Paul had written since 'Feelin' Groovy' and would have
sounded out of place on anything after about 1967, never mind fifteen years
later. In fact most fans got to hear it even later than that when it was released,
bizarrely, as a 'bonus' track on the 2004 live album 'Old Friends: Live On
Stage' where it sounded suitably retro, though it felt like a bit of 'cheating'
was going on. The sleevenotes infer that
this is a 'new' song - which I suppose it was but it's not a 'new' recording as
the track's flowing vocals compared to the rough and ragged live tracks will
tell you (though S and G may have added a couple of overdub 'sweeteners'). A
song about everyone being entitled to a free and peaceful world, Paul claims in
an ecological statement that 'we were
born here - we're gonna die here' and that because of that we're entitled to a
say in how Earth is being run however much the Governments think they can do
what they want. The only trouble is that there's no real 'threat' in this song
- the sentiment is one only corporate businessmen and greedy politicians don't
agree with and there's a sense that Simon and Garfunkel are preaching to the
converted here. Had it been released on 'Think Too Much' (the working title of
what became 'Hearts and Bones') this would have been one of the album's weakest
songs - but heard as an unexpected bonus (especially one after such an 'empty'
live album) it's a rather sweet little extra, a reminder of how well Simon and
Garfunkel could sing together long after going their separate ways.Find it on: 'Old Friends- Live On Stage' (2005)

One of the songs Paul wrote early on for
the project was [ ] 'Shelter Of Your Arms', an
early version of the song that will become 'When Numbers Get Serious'. This
demo version, before Arty came and went, is very different to the one the pair
would perform on tour that year through and which Paul would re-record for his
album. 'Look at these laughter lines - they run halfway round the block, I
start the clock!' sings Paul as he blocks out chords with yet another lyric
about ageing. He also puts out his new philosophy: 'I used to feel so down but
now I just feel fine'. The part you might recognise doesn't appear until 2:08
when the 'woah yeah woo-ooh!' bit appears as the song's middle eight, here
accompanied not by synth-drums but by some restless flamenco guitar work. All
very pretty but a little aimless - but then, that's what demos are meant to be,
in order that the finished products aren't.Find it
on: the CD re-issue of 'Hearts and Bones'

Non-Album
Recordings Part #13: 1984

[
] 'Sometimes When I'm
Dreaming' is a typical Mike Batt song: part gorgeous nugget of
inspiration, part hack work with one too many silly rhymes ('It may not be
right to give up the fight and I'm now home alone...') This track is certainly
no 'Bright Eyes' though that's mainly thanks to the over-1980s production that
saps all emotion out of the song so fast even Arty starts sounding insincere
(and you know something's gone wrong if that's happening...) I'd love to hear a
'demo' of this song though, as the central theme of the song is sound enough.
Art's narrator has been through hard times and fears life will always be like
this for the rest of his life, but sometimes he finds himself dreaming of a
better future and spending more time with those thoughts than stuck in the
reality of his empty house. A sort of minor lost gem, then, buy you don't need
to go out of your way too seriously to track this one lone song down if you're
missing it. Abba's Agnetha Faltskog recorded the song first on her first
post-band solo album where she sounds much like Arty does here (ie lost in the
middle of a whopping jungle of synthesisers).Find
it on: 'The Art Garfunkel Album' (1984)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #14: 1990

Before the record companies messed
around with it Paul Simon's 'Rhythm Of
The Saints' was an even more intelligent record than people thought it was,
meticulously worked out so that side one saw each song shift up a key to where
the next track would start and the whole process would start again in reverse
on side two, leaving the listener back where they started in one whacking
complete 'whole'. [ ] 'Thelma' was intended to be
the 'middle' track, right in the middle, which stayed in the same hypnotic
trance beat throughout and the most complex backing track of the lot in terms
of the amounts of sharps/flats used. Perhaps sensing that he'd gone a bit
overboard in construction of the complex backing track, Paul kept things
simpler in the lyric, which is the blandest of the album's sessions, a simple
tale of love as the narrator pleads 'I will need you, feed you, seed you, plead
with you' and offers us some homespun wisdom such as 'If life's a blessing that
touches the tops of the trees then life's a short walk' whatever that means!
After the running order got taken out (without much of a fuss, oddly, when
Warner Brothers asked to have lead single 'The Obvious Child' placed as the
first track) 'Thelma' suddenly looked dispensable, easily the most awkward of
the eleven songs Paul had recorded for the album. That said, Paul was on such a
peak in this period that even this outtake sounds better than most people's
period releases, with Thelma a rare and more awkward beauty than her ten
bedfellows, but a beauty nonetheless.Find it on:
'The Rhythm Of The Saints' CD Re-Issue (1990) and 'Paul Simon 1964-1993' (1993)

While Paul was getting religious in
Brazil, Arty was getting religious back home, recording a quite lovely
Christian carol for a one-off various artists Christmas record which,
unusually, wasn't for charity. The theme was acoustic performances of carols by
favoured singer-songwriters and saw Arty on top form alongside Paul's old
'discovery' Laura Nyro, Willie Nile and Johnny Cash's daughter Roseanne. Arty
fares best, obviously, with a lovely slow and unusual accordion drenched
version of the famous carol [ ] 'O Come All Ye Faithful' not
dissimilar to his unusual reading of past folk songs like 'She Moved Through
The Fair'. By the last verse Art sings with himself multi-tracked another four
times over, just like he once did as a teenager with a tape recorder. As 'Star
Carol' and 'Comfort and Joy' prove, Arty has a real gift for singing Christmas
songs - it's a real shame and a bit of s surprise he's never yet released a
festive record, assuming for now that Jimmy Webb's weirdo nativity musical doesn't
count (not that I particularly like Christmas records, mind you, with some
truly awful AAA ones out there including and especially 'The Animals'
Christmas', but Arty would do a nice one and it would suit his voice better
than American songbook titles or children's lullabies).Find it on: originally the Various Artists set 'Acoustic Christmas'
(1990 and since then Arty's own compilation 'Singer' (2012)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #15: 1991

Without a record or an acting deal Art
had a quiet 1990s with only one studio and one live album released the whole
decade long. By far his highest profile moment came at the start of the decade
when he was invited to record the theme song for a new TV series named
'Brooklyn Bridge' that aired between 1991 and 1993 and looked at the concerns
of a Jewish family who'd just moved to New York and struggled to fit in duering
the 1950s. As a Jew who himself had been brought up in the 1940s only a Rolling
Stones throw away from Brooklyn Bridge Art Garfunkel was an obvious candidate
and delivers the theme tune [ ] 'Just Over The Brooklyn Bridge'
in his inimitable sparkling 'ballad' style. The
lyrics are intriguing, an 'Old Friends' style lesson in nostalgia over
times past that finally breaks into a power-pop chorus where Arty closes his
eyes and 'thinks of yesterday'. Unfortunately, this being a theme tune, a
single verse and a chorus is all there is with this song simply ending suddenly
when it could have been so much more. It also comes with very 1980s sounding
pan pipes, which would have made me move out of Brooklyn again pretty sharpish
I can tell you.Find it on: 'Art Garfunkel - Up Till
Now' (1993)

Non-Album
Recordings Part #16: 1993

Columbia weren't interested in a new Art
Garfunkel album after the 'failure' of 'Lefty in 1988 but had already released
far more Art Garfunkel compilations than any fan could possibly want. With the
singer still under contract what could they make him do next? 'Up Till Now' is
the answer, one of the weirdest mutations in the AAA catalogue: partly a
best-of containing songs everybody owned, partly re-recordings of songs
everybody already owned, partly an outtakes album of songs that nobody owned
and six new recordings. It's about as coherent and consistent as it sounds, but
believe it or not the new material on that album is amongst the best and it's a
real shame that Arty wasn't 'allowed' to turn this record into a full album of
new material: he's in good voice, has finally moved on from making Jimmy Webb
his new Paul Simon and he's finally sacked the synthesisers that turned 'Lefty'
from being one of the most promising Garfunkel albums by concept into one of
the hardest to actually listen to.

First up on our list of six 'new'
recordings is the most famous song and compilation favourite [ ] 'Crying In The Rain'.
Following earlier low-key duets on 'Breakaway' (alongside Crosby/Nash) and
'What A Wonderful World' (with Paul Simon), we finally get to hear what Arty
sounds like alongside James Taylor - magnificent is the result. Taylor probably
picked the song, given that it was written by his on-off singing partner Carole
King, but Garfunkel must have known it from a cover by his beloved Everly
Brothers. Art clearly liked the song, writing in his sleevenotes for his
'Singer' compilation that 'There is an illuminating love of living things - all
of them that lies within the tenderness of the line readings'. I'm not sure I'd
go that far, but it is a very clever and powerful song. Poignant and sad,
without being as overblown as some of Arty's more recent ballads, it's catchy
and sweet and works well re-modelled into a 'duet' with overlapping lines (The
Everly Brothers simply sing it in harmony). Released in Canada only as a
single, it was a surprise top thirty hit. Maybe Columbia should have paid more
attention to this song and it might have been a hit in a few other places too? Find it on: 'Up Till Now' (1993), 'Simply The Best' (1998)
and 'The Singer' (2012)

Unfortunately Arty wasn't going to leave
Jimmy Webb alone for too long so up next is [
] 'Skywriter', a
song it's composer won't record himself until as late as 2005 and 'Twilight Of
The Renegades'. This song sounds like every other Jimmy Webb song ever written:
the narrator is floating about life directionless, while the piano chords (played
by AAA session music veteran Nicky Hopkins again on one of his last recordings)
drift along in a slow and hazy sequence. At least this time around both melody
and lyrics are memorable though (which is one up compared to most of 1997's
'Watermark' album for starters) and Arty sounds marvellous, building verse by
verse in 'Bridge' style. Find it on: 'Up Till Now'
(1993), and 'The Singer' (2012)

[
] 'It's All In The
Game' sounds like it belongs on 'Lefty', another typically mid-70s Arty
ballad given a very 1980s makeover with synthesisers and drums that are
suddenly the loudest thing in the mix (yes, even on a ballad). A simple tale
about all the wonderful things that will happen to a woman when she falls in love
with the right man, it's 'safe' without being quite as 'boring' as a lot of
Garfunkel's late 1970s work. The song has an interesting history: it was first
published as an instrumental in 1911 by Charles Dawes, who had something of a
change in career in later life when he became vice-president to Calvin Coolidge
(!) Dawes claimed to have only ever written this one tune - he played it to a
friend who in secret transcribed it into sheet music and Dawes was most
horrified one day to walk past a music shop and see a large picture of him next
to copies of the song he'd written! (This was partly how he entered politics in
fact, figuring that as he'd been laughed about in his job as an accountant he
had nothing to lose being laughed at as a politician!) Lyricist Carl Sigman
loved the song and wrote words to it in 1956, partly in tribute to Dawes who
had just died with many singers covering it in later years though Tommy Edwards
had the biggest hit with it in 1958. Find it on: 'Up
Till Now' (1993)

Another old song is Hoagy Carmichael's [
] 'Two Sleepy People', an unfortunate preview of the
horrific destruction Art will cause to the great American songbook on 2008's
'Some Enchanted Evening'. Arty is too 'sincere' a vocalist for a sly and slinky
song of this type and really doesn't fit the jazz overtones of the backing,
which sounds like 'Still Crazy After All These Years' turned up to eleven. The
idea is that the couple in the song are too asleep to say goodnight so they
decide to get married and stay in the same bed instead - a risqué song for its
times then, but Art's version loses that sense of cheek and flirty outrage
(just imagine if the similar but superior 'Wake Up Little Susie' had tried the
same ending?!) In his sleevenotes to 'The Singer' Arty calls it both a
'crooner's delight' and a 'period 1950s tune' but he's wrong on both counts:
the song was first published in 1938. Horrendous. Find
it on: 'Up Till Now' (1993), and 'The Singer' (2012)

Easily the best song out of the six
though - and perhaps the best thing on the album - is a gorgeous reading of one
of the most overlooked tracks on the 1980's biggest non-compilation seller, Dire
Straits' 'Brothers In Arms'. Released as the sixth and final single from what
was only a nine-track LP (!)[ ] 'Why Worry?' is a lovely Mark
Knopfler ballad never got the kudos it deserved and Arty takes the song in quite
a different direction musically, turning it from Knopfler's shy grunts to a
song of clarity and purpose, 'Bridge' like in it's promises of putting things
right. Usually I'd be horrified at the idea of Knopfler's sterling guitar work
being replaced by a harp and synthesiser as they are on Arty's version, but
both work well as the song kind of hovers in mid-air. There's also a lovely
fade where instead of an instrumental battle between the guitar bass and drums
(suggesting that actually there is good reason to worry and Knopfler is just
being kind) Arty sings the title over and over with himself, two Arty's passing
the line on in a round. It's really quite effective as one of the great
comforters of song finally finds a composition worthy of his talents, soaring
up to the sky in hope and belief. There should be laughter after pain. There
should be sunshine after rain. There should have been a whole album right here
of Arty singing modern classics like this one. Instead we get a wretched live
album, a record full of children's songs and a less than enchanted evening.
What happened to Art Garfunkel's career?! Find it
on: 'Up Till Now' (1993) and 'Simply The Best' (1998)

Non-Album Recordings Part #17: 2012

The
release of the 'Singer' compilation in 2012 allowed Arty space to include a
couple of new recordings - the first made that aren't related to the Great
American Songbook in nine years, since the superlative 'Everything Waits To Be
Noticed'. They're both glorious returns to form from a singer who'd had rather
an up and down 21st century so far and bode very well for any future 'normal'
Garfunkel records and not entirely co-incidentally produced by that 'Noticed's
collaborator Maia Sharp (although oddly enough she doesn't sing this time - the
sublime backing vocals are by leah Kunkel, the wife of drummer Russell). The
first of these is [ ] 'Lena',
which is very much in the 'Noticed' confessional mode, though not from
Garfunkel's perspective for once. Deeper than most of Arty's recent material
and recorded with 'real' instruments again at last, it's a song about a
troubled heroine who pretends she's coping when really she isn't. Quickly
becoming an alcoholic 'burning both ends of the candle', Lena is privately a
mess but Art wants to make her better with a gorgeous chorus of comfort and
longing that does its best to try to put everything right. A surly Dean Parks
guitar solo (reprised at the end in even more of a guttural squawk of confusion
and terror) makes it clear though that unlike 'Bridge' et al Art's got his work
cut out putting so many years of wrongs right. Arty finally adjusts to his
newer, deeper voice and sounds the best he has in twenty odd years. More like
this please Arty! Find it on: 'The Singer' (2012)

[ ] 'Long Way Home' isn't quite as strong, despite being one of Maia's
songs this time with the characteristic 'conversational' rhythm metre. However
it's still better than average, with a powerful feminist lyric that makes Art
sound as if he's singing sarcastically about himself. The girl in the song
wants to feel as if she's loved but instead she's a convenience, about to be
thrown aside. Arty gets into character as he spits: 'I'm your light in the
dark, a breath of fresh air, the love of your life, the answer to all your
prayers, goodbye...you're welcome!' This record also contains the first ever
use of swearing on an Art Garfunkel record (though Paul Simon's used it as a
device a few times, particularly on 'The Capeman'), with Garfunkel calling
himself a 'sick fuck' near song's end. I never thought I'd see the day. Despite
being a long way out of his depth, though, a double-tracked Arty sings superbly
lacing his vocal with just enough venom laced with compassion for this to be
believable as the end of a long-term relationship that genuinely started out of
warmth. He should have been singing songs like these years earlier and Sharp
provides a powerful production once again, claustrophobic and uncomfortable but
never ever cluttered. Find it on: 'The Singer'
(2012)

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About Me

Born in the nexus point of Britain (well, the Midlands anyway), the author has swapped the concrete paradise of Stafford for …the concrete paradise of Ormskirk/Skelmersdale.

Along the way he got a music GCSE and A level (including a national award for his composing work) and music theory grades 3-5, so he should at least vaguely know what he is talking about. He was also awarded an English and History degree from St Martin’s College in Carlisle for his research work and ability to make 3000-word essays quadruple in length overnight (Carlisle remains his spiritual home, whenever it isn’t raining – which is, sadly, most of the time).

Journalism wise his highlights have been writing possibly the worlds last article on Gene Pitney (which was due to have been published two days after he died), enthusing over debut singles by now semi-famous artists like The Editors, Feeder and Newton Faulkner and – the most worthy of all – told the world that Chico out of X Factor was an idiot with a loud voice and nobody should buy his single. Of course, everybody did and it made number one. His artistic crest is the following description of a record: ‘two parts melodious funk to one part Theolonious Monk’!

When not writing his past-times include moaning about continuity points on sci-fi programmes such as Dr Who, Blake's 7, Sapphire and Steel and Timeslip, vainly supporting Alonso through thick and thin in F1 racing, cursing at the Coalition for their sheer incompetence and lying down in a darkened room recovering from chronic fatigue attacks.

The author has spent approximately 31 and a half of his 32 years listening to music in some form or another (he was asleep for the other 6 months before you ask) and has been officially declared ‘monkeynuts’ after spending three months working at the Skills Exchange in Skelmersdale (which seemed like a lifetime). This website - which started off at its 'old' home at www.alansalbumarchives.moonfruit.com - is now six years old, has covered over 450 albums by various artists and has received in total more than 280,000 hits. You can hear the author's music, see his youtube videos (starring Max The Singing Dog) and read more of his awful puns and jokes about the Spice Girls by checking out the 'links' pages further down the site...

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Hello and welcome to our fourth special edition of our newsletter. Our past special editions have looked at AAA compilations (News and ...

List of links for main reviews per band

Please click here to read more articles from 'back issues' of album reviews from News, Views and Music, which are listed alphabetically by band and chronologically by album (please note this section is a pain to update so we only do it every so often – have a look bottom right at the ‘100 most recent articles’ if you’re after more to read!) Please note also that we still have about 100 records we haven’t covered yet – we should be finished this humungous project in about two years (depending on how many more Neil Young puts out between now and 2017!!!) so please be patient with us if we haven't got to your favourite yet (although if we haven’t and you really want to read it, then why now leave a comment and let us know and we’ll move it up the pile!) Please also see below this list for 'top five'/'top ten' articles. Happy reading - and, err, sorry about the eye strain!!! Updated as of April 2017